SHERLOCK: I’m a consulting detective. Only one in the world. I invented the job.

JOHN: What does that mean?

SHERLOCK: It means when the police are out of their depth, which is always, they consult me.

JOHN: The police don’t consult amateurs.

**Sherlock throws him a look**

SHERLOCK: When I met you for the first time yesterday, I said, “Afghanistan or Iraq?” You looked surprised.

JOHN: Yes, how did you know?

SHERLOCK: I didn’t know, I saw. Your haircut, the way you hold yourself, says military. But your conversation as you entered the room…

**flashback to the lab**

SHERLOCK: … said trained at Bart’s, so Army doctor obvious. Your face is tanned but no tan above the wrists. You’ve been abroad, but not sunbathing. Your limp’s really bad when you walk but you don’t ask for a chair when you stand, like you’ve forgotten about it, so it’s at least partly psychosomatic. That says the original circumstances of the injury were traumatic. Wounded in action, then. Wounded in action, suntan. Afghanistan or Iraq.

SHERLOCK: Scratches. Not one, many over time. It’s been in the same pocket as keys and coins. The man sitting next to me wouldn’t treat his one luxury item like this, so it’s had a previous owner. Next bit’s easy. You know it already.

JOHN: The engraving.

**”Harry Watson From Clara xxx” on the back of the phone**

SHERLOCK: Harry Watson, clearly a family member who’s given you his old phone. Not your father, this is a young man’s gadget. Could be a cousin, but you’re a war hero who can’t find a place to live. Unlikely you’ve got an extended family, certainly not one you’re close to, so brother it is. Now, Clara. Who’s Clara? Three kisses says it’s a romantic attachment. The expense of the phone says wife, not girlfriend. She must have given it to him recently, this model’s only six months old. Marriage in trouble then, six months on he’s just given it away. If she’d left him, he would have kept it. People do, sentiment. But no, he wanted rid of it. He left her. He gave the phone to you, that says he wants you to stay in touch. You’re looking for cheap accommodation, but you’re not going to your brother for help, that says you’ve got problems with him. Maybe you liked his wife; maybe you don’t like his drinking.

JOHN: How can you possibly know about the drinking?

SHERLOCK: Shot in the dark. Good one, though. Power connection, tiny little scuff marks around the edge of it. Every night he goes to plug it in to charge but his hands are shaking. You never see those marks on a sober man’s phone, never see a drunk’s without them.